CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.

A pair of online betting measures cleared a New Jersey Assembly committee Thursday, moving the state a step closer to allowing horse wagers to be placed from hand-held devices at state tracks and permitting casino game betting from personal computers across the state, around the country and abroad.

As various levels of government both in the U.S. and around the world have stepped up their attempts to track down dissidents through social networks, the pressure has intensified on companies like Twitter and Facebook to comply with these demands -- even at the expense of their users' privacy. Despite that pressure, Twitter at least seems determined to fight these incursions wherever possible. As a case in point, the company has filed a motion in New York state court to quash a court order compelling it to hand over information about a user involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests, arguing that the order violates that individual's rights.

Published in late April but leaked yesterday, the unclassified document-of which Wired provided a PDF-outlines the federal government's fears surrounding the Bitcoin currency, primarily that in the near future, "cyber criminals will treat Bitcoin as another payment option alongside more traditional and established virtual currencies."

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